The USA has been on quite a journey when it comes to sports gambling. In fact, all gambling has been controversial throughout the US, especially when you consider the fact that it was once banned altogether. This isn’t the case now, and it is down to each state to make its own rules and restrictions. Some see the benefits for allowing sports betting online while others would rather not allow it to avoid any sort of problems that may arise from it.
States with legal sports betting
There are many states already where betting on sports is legal and regulated. These states include:
- Nevada
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- West Virginia
- Pennsylvania
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Arkansas
- Iowa
- Indiana
- Montana
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- Colorado
- North Carolina
- Mississippi
There are other states such as New Mexico where you can play lotteries but not bet on sports. Sports betting being legal does not mean that online sports betting is legal. There are different rules, and just because it is possible to go somewhere and place a bet in those states doesn’t mean you can sign up on your phone, use your Google Wallet to deposit some money, and then start gambling on sports.
The following states are those that allow you to gamble online:
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Illinois
- Colorado
- Indiana
- West Virginia
- Pennsylvania
- Iowa
- Delaware
- Rhode Island
- Oregon
- Nevada
The climate for sports betting legislation
There is pressure on several states to legislate betting and allow people to gamble on sports. For example, in some states that are near those with legalized sports betting, people can simply hop over the border to bet. This leads to people asking why those states would sacrifice the economic benefits of allowing gambling, only for other states to reap the benefits.
There is some pushback. States such as Utah have a lot of people who oppose legal gambling, and this may make it difficult to ever push through any bills. Utah has an interesting history with gambling, and the Mormon population, in particular, has been linked to Nevada and some casinos. However, this is predicted to be the only state where it is very unlikely that sports betting will become legal.
2022 sports betting bills
Maine sports betting was passed in May 2022, signed into law and will launch in 2023. This follows sports betting approvals and passed bills from 2021 in Nebraska, Maryland and Ohio, all of which are due to launch fully in the next year or so.
Betting bills can take a long time to pass and put into action, as the process is quite drawn out. It could be some time before we see a great deal more legalized gambling in some areas where the laws aren’t currently in the process of changing.
Previous sports betting bills
In both 1860 and 1910, there were bills in place that totally banned gambling in the US. After this, the first legal sportsbook opened in Las Vegas in 1949. There were other bills in the meantime, but the most important was in 2018 when the legal case between Murphy and NCAA changed everything. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey, allowing them to regulate their own laws regarding gambling, and this paved the way for every state to be able to decide upon their own rules.
Benefits of legal sports betting
There are controversies regarding the legality of sports betting, but there are a lot of benefits to legalizing it. A lot of states have put excellent support in place to help tackle any problem gambling, and allow them to benefit from the positives, such as:
- Increased employment. There are a number of new jobs that tend to be created by sports betting becoming legal.
- Economic benefits include tax revenue that is generated from sports betting companies.
- Reduced crime. Illegal gambling is a problem in a lot of places where gambling is not legislated, which tends to be stamped out once people have a legitimate way to gamble.
States with the pending legalization
As well as Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, and Ohio sports betting bills, states such as California are under a lot of pressure to legalize and allow sports gambling, partially because of their geographical location and how close they are to states that allow people to gamble.
Though the existing bills are those that we will see change the laws most quickly, there are undeniably more changes in the pipeline.